1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and composition for diagnosing and suppressing metastasis thereof. A particular aspect of the invention relates to a method and composition of evaluating expression levels of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF, also known as CCN2) to determine the status of tumor invasion. Another aspect of the invention relates to a method and composition comprising a tumor suppressor, which maintains or increases an expression level of CTGF to suppress the invasion ability of tumor cells effectively.
2. The Prior Arts
Cancer is a leading cause of death in most developed countries. Although many researchers focus their efforts on developing effective methods to treat cancers, the difficulty of treating metastatic cancers is still a problem.
Metastasis is a process that the cancer cells spread from their original site to other areas in the body. Tumor metastasis involves detachment of tumor cells from the primary tumor mass, microinvasion of tumor cells into stromal tissue, intravasation of tumor cells into blood vessels, extravasation and growth of tumor cells in secondary sites. Many approaches have been developed to study the metastatic process in molecular levels, but the mechanisms of metastasis are still not very clear.
Occurrence of metastasis may bring high risk and death rate to patients. To optimize the prognosis, some aggressive methods with severe side-effects are taken to treat or suppress the tumor metastasis. Also, early detection of primary, metastatic, and recurrent disease can significantly impact the prognosis of patients suffering from cancers. Accordingly, determination of metastatic potential of tumor cells is very important to take adequate treatments to patients. Furthermore, there is a great need for methods which are effective to treat or suppress the tumor metastasis.